Here we see Thomas Woodcock, CVO, DL, FSA who is Garter Principal King-of-Arms of the English College of Arms in the traditional tabard bearing the royal arms as used in England and holding his wand of office.
Some more today: Heraldry For The Designer by William Metzig, published in 1970. (thanks to the recommendation of a fellow heraldist) It’s an interesting book. His style is unique but some of his ideas about heraldry border on the bizarre.
Also Royal Ceremonies of State by J.P. Brooke-Little (quondam Clarenceux King of Arms) published in 1980. As the title states its a book mostly about British royal ceremonies. However, the author being who he is there is a chapter on the Heralds and a good bit of heraldry throughout especially in the chapters on funerals and orders of chivalry. It’s also a book that illustrates well that the function of a herald isn’t limited to genealogy and the devisal of coats of arms. There are an extensive amount of ceremonial duties involved with being a herald.
I recently came back from a vacation in France during which I also spent a little time in the Confœderatio Helvetica, more commonly known as Switzerland (derived from Schwyz, the leading of the three founding cantons at the time of the confederation in 1291). It is a country that does not have a monarchy and yet where heraldry runs rampant (pardon the pun) thus giving the lie to the notion that heraldry is an antiquated idea associated with outmoded forms of government, like elitist monarchies. Elitism and monarchy do not necessarily go hand in hand. The Swiss have survived for centuries without a monarch and yet have managed, nonetheless, to become quite elitist!
He will tour areas hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy with the Governor, The Hon. Chris Christie, and see the efforts and recovery and rebuilding. I’ve never liked the custom of the British royals of having everyone use the royal arms differenced only by various forms of a label. In addition, the royal arms really should have had an escutcheon in pretense of the Duchy of Saxony added but the heralds decided against that.
From his April 30th investiture onwards, His Majesty King Willem-Alexander will fly the royal standard. His coat of arms will be identical to that used by Queen Beatrix. Contrary to the announcement in the press release of 29 January therefore, there will be no change in the design.
The blazon is: Azure, billity or, a lion rampant of the same, armed and langued gules, crowned with a coronet of two pearls between three leaves, a sword argent with hilt or, thrusted upwards, in its right hand claw seven arrows argent with heads or, tied in a garb with ribbon or, in its left hand claw. The Royal Netherlands crown resting on the ledge of the shield, supported by two lions rampant or, armed and langued gules, placed above a ribbon azure, with the motto JE MAINTIENDRAI in gold lettering. The whole placed above a royal mantling purple trimmed or, lined ermine, tied back at the corners with gold tassled cords and issuing from a domed canopy of the same, surmounted by the Royal Netherlands crown.
The royal coat of arms, which is the same as the coat of arms of the Kingdom, has only been altered once since the foundation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1907, at the instigation of Queen Wilhelmina, the number of crowns was reduced to one, surmounting the shield. At the same time, it became possible to add the royal mantle, also surmounted by a crown. The addition of other decorative elements to the coat of arms is optional.
After her abdication Queen Beatrix will adopt the coat of arms created for her (and for her sisters) in 1938 as Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau and Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld.
With the new Iron Man movie coming out soon hoards of geeks will reignite discussions of the coolest thing about Iron Man/Tony Stark. Well, the first movie already revealed the. coolest. thing. ever. In the scene showing Tony in his private jet we see on the wall behind him that TONY STARK HAS A COAT OF ARMS!!! Woo-hoo!
The Greater Coat of Arms of the Republic of Venice. A little busy but all their jurisdictions are in there! The patron saint of Venice is St. Mark (feast day: April 25).
Coat of Arms of the Republic of Venice, topped by the Doge’s cap. The patron saint of Venice is St. Mark (feast day: April 25).
There are numerous organizations throughout the world for those interested in heraldry. Many specialize in the heraldry of a particular country and some are simply societies for the furtherance of the appreciation and knowledge of heraldry. Some of them are private organizations (membership by invitation). Many are open for anyone to apply for membership. Here are some of my favorites. (in the interest of full disclosure I am a member of those marked with an * and also an officer in those marked with a #)
The Heraldry Society (England) *
The Heraldry Society of Scotland
The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada *
The Heraldry Society of New Zealand
The Australian Heraldry Society
The American College of Heraldry * #
The American Heraldry Society * #
The International Association of Amateur Heralds *
The Fellowship of the White Shield *
The White Lion Society (England)
The Westphalian Heraldry Society
Several people have asked me to illustrate further just what the practice of combining two coats of arms together on one shield via the antiquated method of dimidiation looks like. This form of marshaling was used extensively in the Middle Ages but fell out in favor of impaling. With dimidiation, as the name implies each of the two coats of arms is split down the middle and only one half of each is depicted in the two halves of one shield. An excellent example of this are the arms of Dolní Lomná, a village in the Czech republic. The arms depict an eagle on one half and a tree on the other. Dimidiation obscures part of each of the coats of arms and also sometimes creates somewhat unusual looking creatures like this demi-eagle/demi-tree or even more amusingly the famous arms of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports who seems to bear lions that are also half boat!
The coat of arms of the late Baroness Thatcher. This version was done when she was made a Dame of the Garter. While the arms of women are usually depicted on an oval or lozenge shaped shield these are done on the heater shaped shield usually used by men. The inescutcheon (small plain shield in the center) is placed there to indicate these are not her husband’s arms or inherited from an armigerous ancestor but are, in fact, her own granted coat of arms.
UPDATE: Her husband’s arms which are completely different appear below.
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
Fr. Guy Selvester's blog of Ecclesiastical Heraldry
EXARANDORUM 